What We Do

We help universities in the least developed countries.

Academics Without Borders’ mission is to help developing countries improve their universities so that they can train their own experts and conduct research to assist in their countries’ development. Academics Without Borders’ projects are involved in the full range of university activities from expanding and improving existing institutions and programs to helping create new ones.

The Work

Promoting successful development, one project at a time.

Thanks to generous financial support from our donors, AWB’s projects have taken our volunteers around the world, from Africa to Asia to South America. They devote their time, energy, and expertise to short- and long-term projects that foster the skills and knowledge needed in areas such as healthcare, education, infrastructure, and business—the building blocks of successful societies and countries. The projects take place in all areas in which universities are engaged, including teaching, research, and back-office operations.

Featured Projects

We welcome proposals for new projects from universities and ministries of higher education in the developing world.

University Network

In a globalized world, universities are key institutions for deepening understanding of the world and connecting their academics, students, staff and administrators with people beyond national borders.

While most Canadian universities are committed to fostering a global outlook in their teaching and research, much of their outreach is to universities located in the world’s better-off countries. The AWB University Network helps them also connect with universities in some of the least developed countries in the world.

Did you know: the average cost of an AWB project is just $4,000?

Academics Without Borders is able to offer highly valuable assistance to developing-world universities at very low cost. We are able to do this because of the generous contributions from:

Volunteers

Who donate their time, energy, and expertise.

Donors

Whose generosity makes all our projects possible.

Host Universities

Who contribute to the costs of our projects.

Staff

Who freely contribute some (or all) of their time to help administer our projects.

Meet the Volunteers

Volunteers are at the heart of AWB’s projects and are essential to what we do.

Just as donors contribute vitally important financial support, volunteers generously contribute their time and expertise to collaborative programs initiated by universities in some of the world’s least-developed countries. While the projects vary in focus and duration, the main goal of the volunteer’s activities is always the same: to improve some aspect of a country’s university so that it can provide its country with its own experts and skilled professionals.

We need your help

Only through good universities can these countries have the expertise and hands-on skills critical to foster healthy, self-sustaining societies. Well-run universities not only benefit countries economically, but also are an important component of civil society and are often in the forefront of advocating for improved and democratic governance, for gender equality, and for a society that is equitable and just.